President Donald Trump unceremoniously announced Thursday afternoon on Twitter that his prospective Federal Reserve Board pick Stephen Moore has officially withdrawn from the process, the second of Trump’s picks to do so in a matter of weeks.
Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process. Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2019
….and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2019
Moore responded in a statement:
Moore statement to POTUS pic.twitter.com/Yf1loLMxOK
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 2, 2019
Herman Cain took himself out of contention on April 22.
It has looked likely that Moore would follow in Cain’s footsteps after skeletons started tumbling out of his closet, including money owed to the IRS, a messy divorce and missed alimony payments and a history of sexist writings.
On Wednesday, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) signaled that Republicans were ready to dump Moore as the scandals built up. Despite the GOP’s waning confidence, as recently as Thursday, Moore was insisting that he’s “all in” and cited the President’s support as his saving grace in the confirmation process.
Bloomberg’s Joshua Green reported that Moore was feeling confident in his chances a mere 35 minutes before Trump dropped the bomb.
Moore got Priebus-ed — he told me 35 minutes ago he was fully expecting to be confirmed, WH told him yesterday it was “full speed ahead” https://t.co/CqhIDCBmEX
— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) May 2, 2019
From the first day Moore’s name was floated, economists immediately sounded off on his lack of qualifications and record of frequently erroneous economic predictions. Indeed, so many observers considered him solely a political choice that was forced to publicly promise that he wouldn’t be a Trump “sycophant” should he get the gig.
Here’s a deep dive of the many stumbles Moore took on his short but salacious pre-confirmation process.
